"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness, and our ability to tell our own stories..."
- Arundhati Roy

THIS BLOG is NOW RETIRED

I began this blog in May 2009 following the death of Marcia Powell at Perryville State Prison in Goodyear, Arizona. It is not intended to prescribe the path that leads to freedom from the prison industrial complex.

Rather, these are just my observations in arguably the most racist, fascist, militaristic state in the nation at a critical time in history for a number of intersecting liberation movements. From Indigenous resistance to genocidal practices, to the fight over laws like SB1070 and the ban on Ethnic Studies, Arizona is at the center of many battles for human rights, and thus the struggle for prison abolition as well - for none are free until all are. I retired the blog in APRIL 2013.

David Rovics: We Are Everywhere

To my fellow activists now struggling through life - let this be a reminder that you are not alone and that we desperately need you here. All the injustice, grief, war, and human suffering calls for us to stay and do everything we can about it - you can't help us anymore when you're gone. Don't give up the fight - your last shred of hope may just keep someone else alive, too.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lisa Allen was dismayed when she saw the super-sleazy TV ad against her boss' opponent, Dan Saban, air on September 30, 2008.

She thought the ad, which stated that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's opponent had masturbated on county time and had once been accused of raping his own mother, put the county law enforcement agency in a bad light.

"We just look like scum," Allen told investigators two years ago.

She's sure right about that. But the scumminess goes way beyond the content of a political smear ad.

The recently released SCA report by the state Attorney General's Office exposes evidence of big corruption within both the MCSO and the state Republican Party.

Our previous stories on the secret fund known as "SCA," (Sheriff's Command Association,) detail a conspiracy to launder tens of thousands of dollars from Arpaio's rich supporters and his command staff through the fund. The money was funneled into the Republican Party, where it was used to pay for an attack ad against Arpaio's opponent in the 2008 election, Dan Saban. The report sheds new light on the scheme to violate campaign laws, while detailing lies and acute memory losses of key players.

Arizona law prohibits contributions to political parties or political action committees that are made in the name of another person or are earmarked toward specific candidates. The maximum contribution to a county candidate in 2008, the year of the election in question, was $390. In that year, corporations weren't allowed to contribute money for the purpose of influencing an election (in 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that corporate money could be used in campaigns).

The report contains strong evidence that those campaign laws were broken by sheriff's officials and representatives of the state Republican Party. Investigators suspect key players of even more. Search warrant returns show that, in addition to campaign violations, Captain Joel Fox is suspected of fraudulent schemes for his role in the SCA, and Chief Deputy David Hendershott is suspected of "illegal conduct of an enterprise and obstructing criminal investigations or prosecutions."

The report states:

* David Hendershott, Arpaio's chief deputy and campaign manager, masterminded the SCA effort and solicited many, if not most, of the secret contributions. A total of $101,500 was raised over two years.

* Working with another of Joe Arpaio's key confidante's, Larry Black, Hendershott had contributions sent to Black's subordinate, Captain Joel Fox. That way, Hendershott and Black could keep their names out of it. Fox has long maintained that he was the founder and only decision-maker for the SCA fund.

* During the run-up to the 2008 campaign, Black frequently was seen in his office on the 19th floor of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix -- Sheriff's Office headquarters -- working on the material for the planned anti-Saban ad. Lisa Allen saw him looking at a Saban deposition transcript, and Sheriff's Captain Jim Miller told investigators it was common knowledge around the office that he was working on the ad. The Republican Party later used the SCA money to produce an ad based on Black's work.

* In summer 2008, state Representative Jim Weiers set up a meeting between Black, Fox, and Republican political consultant Chris Baker. We put in a call to Weiers today -- he hasn't called back.

* After two meetings at restaurants with Black and Fox, Baker received an $80,000 check from the SCA account. He'd later receive another $25,000 check.

* Baker took the check directly toRandy Pullen, then chair of the state Republican Party. Pullen told an assistant to put the money in the party's state account, despite her protests that the contribution might be improper.

* The Republican Party used $78,000 of the money to fund an independent expenditure committee, Arizonans for Public Safety, created the day after Pullen received the check.

* Baker was then employed to work on the anti-Dan Saban ad. He told representatives of Anthem Media, which produced the TV ad, what the ad should say.

* The TV ad aired just once, on September 30, 2008. Pullen and other high-ranking Republicans watched the ad while attending an event atJohn McCain's Phoenix headquarters.

The Party's general counsel, Joe Abate, was present. He told investigators that Pullen told him about "some money given to the party [that] was supposed to be used for a specific purpose, but Joe Abate could not remember what the purpose was. He believed Randy Pullen said the money was earmarked...Upon leaving the meeting, Joe Abate thought that the party may be in some trouble."

Former state Republican Party chair Mike Hellon, also at the event, asked Pullen why he would create such a "sleazy" ad. He says Pullen responded, "Because there were some supporters of Joe Arpaio who gave us some money, and that is what they wanted us to do with it."

* Days later, someone tipped Hellon that Bruce Ash, a Republican committeeman, told a Capitol Times reporter that he'd been informed by Randy Pullen that the money would never have been donated if the party hadn't agreed to do the ad. Hellon told state investigators that he phoned Ash "and told him that he had better shup up, because he just told the media that the state party is guilty of a felony."

* Hellon also described howU.S. Senator Kyl was duped into raising funds to replace the SCA donation, which had to be returned to contributors.

The Republican Party was forced to give back the $105,000 in SCA donations after questions were raised about the anonymous contributors. Legally, it could only accept the donations if the names of the individual contributors were known. But this became a problem for the state party, which had spent the money on negative ads targeting both Dan Saban and Tim Nelson, the opponent of former County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

The Party was "basically broke during the 2008 election cycle," Hellon told investigators. He said Pullen asked Kyl to tap some of his rich contributors "so the party could do a get out the vote campaign."

A fundraising dinner was held for "12 or 15 guys, and somewhere in the range of about $85,000 was raised. Instead of using the money to have a get-out-the-vote effort, Pullen used it to repay the SCA money," Hellon said.

* The big-money contributors to the SCA, including local developer and Phoenix Coyotes owner Steve Ellman, were also contacted by either Sheriff's Office or party officials and asked to resubmit checks directly to the Republican Party -- which they did.

* A "day or so" after search warrants were served at the home of Joel Fox, Hendershott visited several subordinates for a chat. Scott Freeman, the office's chief of special operations, recalls that Hendershott wanted to remind Freeman that Hendershott had nothing to do with the SCA fund. "Scott Freeman told Chief Hendershott that was not his recollection," investigator Mike Edwards wrote.

Freeman had been among several deputies asked to contribute to the SCA through payroll deductions. But Freeman let Hendershott know he wasn't going to lie for him. He told his boss that he specifically recalled how Hendershott invited him to contribute, telling him to "contact Larry Black about how to set it up."

* The AG's office, in a search warrant for Hendershott's e-mails, wrote that Arpaio's second-in-command was suspected of violating campaign laws, obstruction of justice, and running an illegal enterprise.

The FBI, which conducted its own investigation of the MCSO along with AG sleuths, found additional dirt Hendershott in "file reviews and interviews" from other investigations, the SCA report says:

* "Per an interview, on or about 10/12/05, David Hendershott made a request of Alltell Rep, Mark Walker, to destroy all cell phone call records because he was concerned that campaign phone calls made from MCSO phones could be tracked," the report states.

Although that pre-dates the SCA mess, the FBI's accusation raises questions about what other kinds of evidence Hendershott or others in his command might have destroyed. As we mentioned in a previous blog, Arpaio's spokeswoman, Lisa Allen, told investigators that when the Sheriff's Office learned it was under investigation, Black had urged her to delete anything on her computer related to the 2008 campaign.

The FBI also accuses Hendershott of ordering a Verizon rep to "write a false document that indicated no bad credit with Verizon in order to facilitate the financing for his home."

The Verizon rep, Dawn Shackner, "later became a civilian employee of MCSO."

We should mention that the SCA report contains no direct evidence that Arpaio knew anything about the scheme. Perhaps Hendershott kept him in the dark intentionally, protecting him from the storm he figured would later come. We can't help but wonder if there was discussion about the SCA within what Sheriff's Office employees called Arpaio's "inner, inner circle," of his closest aides: Hendershott, Black, and Brian Sands.

The scandal essentially began in summer 2006, when Hendershott invited County Elections Director Karen Osborne for an unusual sit-down meeting at a Phoenix CoCo's restaurant.

"We've got big money we can get to out there; there is big money we can bring in to this effort," Hendershott reportedly told Osborne.

Hendershott wanted to set up a political action committee, but Osborne told him no corporate money could be mixed with the PAC's donations. Corporate money could be given to a "political organization that only focused on issues," she advised.

A few weeks later, Black and Fox set up two political action committees and opened the SCA bank account. The PACs were never used, but the SCA account grew rich.

Hendershott and Black persuaded several high-ranking deputies to contribute, telling them the money would be used to help deputies. The pair also contacted "several rich individuals" and asked them for fat checks.

Ellman, who gave $25,000, told Anchorage businessman Tom Gimple that the contributions would be used to support Sheriff Arpaio. Hendershott began e-mailing Gimple, recommending a donation of $25,000, and telling Gimple how to make out the check and where to send it. (Gimple sort of screwed it up by writing, "Vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio" on the check, which became a key piece of evidence that the contribution was an illegal earmark.)

One contributor believed she was helping fund a toy drive.

In the months before the election, Hendershott took "weeks" off from work to focus on Arpaio's campaign, which he considered "God's work," according to retired Maricopa Captain Jim Miller, who was interviewed by the FBI.

Miller told investigators that, before the anti-Saban ad was run, Black spent a great deal of time working on it in Arpaio's 19th-floor "video room."

Miller also confessed that it was "common talk/knowledge" around the office that the shady SCA fund "was the method used to 'fund the hit piece on Saban,'" the report states.

Worthy of note: Randy Pullen and Bruce Ash came off as extremely evasive in their interviews. Both suffered acute memory loss at times.

By contrast, Pullen's assistant at the time, Amy Lynn Gordon, was much more forthcoming to investigators. The talk around the office was that the SCA money would be used for an ad to help Arpaio, she said.

She said she assumed it would be a negative ad. Politically the campaign did not want its hand on dirty stuff, she said. That would be the job of the party

Asked what she understood the purpose of Arizonans for

Public Safety to be when it was ﬁrst formed, Gordon said it was an independent-expenditure committee to support the sheriff. Asked if it was formed speciﬁcally to support the sheriff, she said yes. Asked how she learned that, Gordon said she gleaned it from talking to Sean McCaffrey or Randy Pullen, though she could not remember a speciﬁc conversation.

Investigators note that Pullen, in a letter to a state elections investigator, wrote: "In fact, no one at the Party ever had a direct or indirect conversation with any one with or associated with SCA regarding the intended use of the funds."

The fact that Baker, a Republican contract worker, had meetings with SCA organizers Black and Fox, belies Pullen's statement.

Homeless in Phoenix: Know Your Rights

Support Food Not Bombs!

"Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a grassroots movement that believes we could end hunger throughout the world by putting all the resources spent on the war machine into the mouths of the hungry instead. If we spent the same amount of money our government spends on war, on food instead, we could feed every person in the world three meals a day. In addition to opposing war, we are also against the enormous amount of waste Americans create. To fight the vast waste of perfectly good food, we salvage food that would otherwise be tossed. If you are interested in preparing food with us, please give us a holler! We encourage anyone to be our friend on here who supports the FNB movement and is interested in cooking and serving with us."

Resist SB 1070

Coalition de Derechos Humanos

Know your rights fliers (English and Spanish)

Change This...

Report: AZ has ten times the number of people with mental illness in prisons/jails as in hospitals.

Sunbelt Justice, by Mona Lynch

Well-researched account of the history of punishment in Arizona, and its effect on the rest of the country. Essential tool for AZ Justice and Human Rights Activists. Request from your local library - if they don't have it, ask them to order it.

Revolutionary Solidarity is the Secret That Destroys All Walls

"The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier!" (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)

ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORKELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:

Spirit of Freedom is ELP's international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail.

Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail ELP4321@hotmail.com

STATEMENT ON VIOLENCESome people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions including assault and murder. 'Spirit of Freedom' does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.---------------------------------Welcome to the August 2009 edition of Spirit of Freedom. As ELP goes to print we are still anxiously awaiting news of Justin Solondz. As previously reported in Spirit of Freedom, in mid-June ELP learnt that the American environmentalist, Justin Solondz, who is wanted by the FBI in connection totheir investigation which led to the Green Scare Trials in both Oregon and Washington, has been arrested in China. Since then ELP has not heard anything more about Justin. If anyone has any information on Justin and where he is currently being held then please let ELP know.

The arrest of Justin, in China, is a good reminder to us all of the importance of the international prisoner support movement and how people can be jailed in any country anywhere around the world. In the past ELP has listed prisoners in North America, Latin America, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia and Australasia. In fact the only continent ELP has never listed a prisoner from is Antarctica!!! As our prisoner lists always show, the cause for Earth/Animal Liberation is international. So please, regardless of what languages you speak and regardless of where you live inthe world, please support the eco-prisoners and no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!

If anyone notices any of ELP's prisoner details is out of date or we do not list a prisoner who we should list, please let ELP know as soon as possible. ELP is run by a small group of volunteers and although we try to ensure our lists are accurate, we admit we do make mistakes. So help us help keep the lists accurate by letting us know of any changes we need to make.----------------------

ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS

Grant Barnes #137563, San Carlos Correctional Facility, PO Box 3, Pueblo, CO 81002, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. The letters ELF were spray painted onto all of the vehicles. (Grant is a vegan).

Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland. Serving 18 years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In '02 Marco completed a 12-year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy. (Marco is a meat eater who encourages organic living).

Maura Harringon, Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Gaol, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Republic of Ireland. Jailed for non-payment of a fine. The fine was issued following Maura's involvement in an anti-Shell petrol company protest. (Diet unknown).

Jonatan. E-mail messages of support to freejonatan@yahoo.se A 20-year old Swedish man sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after admitting damaging a communication tower used by the Department of Defence, cutting the cables on a crane used in creating urban sprawl, and damaging a vehicle used in the logging industry. Jonatan is currently on bail as he appeals his sentence (Jonatan is a vegan).

Jeffrey Luers, # 13797671, CRCI, 9111 NE Sunderland Ave, Portland, OR 97211-1708, USA. Serving 10 years for arson on a SUV dealership & the attempted arson of an oil truck. The original sentence was 22 years & 8 months, but was reduced on appeal. (Diet unknown).

Marie Jeanette Mason, #04672-061, FCI Waseca, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 1731, Waseca, MN 56093, USA. Serving 21 years and 10 months for her involvement in an ELF arson against a University building carrying out Genetically Modified crop tests. Marie also pleaded guilty toconspiring to carry out ELF actions and admitted involvement in 12 other ELF actions. (Marie is a vegan).

Eric McDavid, 16209-097, FCI Victorville, Medium II, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 19 years & 7 months for planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants. At the point of his arrest no criminal damage has actually occurred. (Eric is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan, 63794-053, USP Marion, US Penitentiary, PO Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an old growth logging corporation. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Daniel is a vegetarian).

Kevin Olliff, #1300931, TTCF 161 D-Pod, 450 Bauchet St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA. On remand accused of stalking. Exact details of the indictment have not yet been revealed but the charges appear to relate to a person employed by an educational facility so may be linked to vivisection. (Kevinis a vegan).

Jonathan Paul, #07167-085, FCI Phoenix, Federal Correctional Institution, 37910 N 45th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA. Sentenced to 51 months for an ALF arson on a horse meat plant. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALFconspiracy. (Jonathan is a vegan).

William James Viehl, Inmate #2009-05735, Davis County Jail, 800 West State St., Farmington, UT 84025, USA. On Remand accused of raiding a mink farm. Also accused of breaching bail conditions whilst on bail. (William is avegan).

The Lecce Defendants have been charged with "subversive association" accused of damaging Esso petrol pumps to oppose the War on Iraq; sabotaging the cash machines of a bank which funds an immigration centre; and targeting the multinational company Benetton in support of Mapuche land rights activistsin Chile. All of the defendants are currently either under house arrest or released on bail.

Pavel Delidon, ul. Timiryazeva-1, FGU IK-7, 309990 Valuyki Russia. Anarchist/Animal Rights activist jailed for attempting to obtain wages owed to him, but which had not been paid to him by his employer. IMPORTANT: Pavel can only receive letters written in Russian. He is punished by the prison if he receives a letter not written in Russian so please, only send letters written in Russian. (Diet unknown).

Richard Sills (Address Unknown, USA). Serving 15 months for bomb hoaxing a University saying they would be targeted by the ALF if they didn't stop their animal experiments. (Diet unknown).

Fran Thompson, #1090915, CCC, 3151 Litton Drive, Chillicuthe, MO 64601, USA. Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nukecampaigner. (Fran is a vegan).

MOVE

MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. All move prisoners describe themselves as vegetarians. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, diedin prison in 1998.

Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in2001.

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Just three weeks after signing a highly controversial anti-immigrant bill that orders police officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed a new law banning ethnic studies in Arizona public schools. The law could shut down a popular Mexican American studies program in the Tucson school district. It will also affect specialized courses in African American and Native American studies. In response, students have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the bill. On Wednesday, fifteen people, most of them students, were arrested protesting the law at the state offices of education in Tucson.

BLOG TALK RADIO

Women Behind the Wall: What Happened to Marcia Powell?

Families against mandatory minimums (FAMM)

2004 Report: Arizona Prison Crisis

National Lawyers Guild

Disinformation Handbook

November Coalition: Razor Wire

Union del Barrio

MigrantWatch

"The greatest challenge that many societies face around the world, is the relentless and implacable rise of violence against migrants."